On august 13 unknown attackers sent an email containing malicious code to multiple computers in the South Carolina department of revenue, and at least one user opened the email which likely contained key-logging software. Using this software the attacker gained legitimate user access by obtaining login information. The two major controls that were missing in this scenario were encryption and authorization. State workers were not required to have multiple passwords when accessing important information, and the state did not encrypt tax data. In order to prevent such a thing from recurring, the state should encrypt any sensitive information such as tax information, employees should require multiple credentials for authentication, and employees should be trained to recognize suspicious emails in order to prevent hackers from obtaining "low hanging fruit".
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